A switching fabric including a virtual switch

A method may include determining whether a host destination address of a packet received at a particular switch of a switching fabric is associated with a virtual switch address. In response to a determination that the host destination address is associated with the virtual switch address, the method may also include encapsulating the packet with the virtual switch address as a destination fabric address, where the virtual switch address is associated with a virtual switch including a first physical switch and a second physical switch. The method may further include selecting one of the first physical switch and the second physical switch as a routing path. The method may further include routing the packet to the selected physical switch based on the virtual switch address and transmitting the packet from the selected physical switch to a client switch.